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Annual Interagency Accessibility Forum. October 11 - 13, 2022. Unlocking the Power of Accessibility.

PROGRAM Day 1/Tuesday, October 11th | Day 2/Wednesday, October 12th | Day 3/Thursday, October 13th

PROGRAM Day 1: Tuesday, October 11

Yvette Gibson, Training & Outreach Director, General Services Administration
12:10 PM – 1:00 PM
Workshop
Track A: Lead Our Agencies Toward Access
Accessible Meetings: Integrating Captioning in Conference Platforms During this session you will learn how to integrate Real-Time Captioning/Computer Assisted Real-Time Transcription (CART), and key requirements for public events & webinars.
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Track B: Create Amazing Content
Videos for All: Strategies for Developing Audio Described Videos While video and multimedia can be great vehicles to communicate with the public and with internal audiences, making those videos fully accessible can be a challenge! This workshop will offer tips and tricks for generating audio described videos, including strategies for developing audio descriptions for both technical and general audiences.
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1:00 PM – 1:10 PM
Break
1:10 PM – 2:00 PM
Workshop
Track A: Lead Our Agencies Toward Access
The Human Reason for Accessibility (Part 1) Presenters will introduce foundational accessibility concepts, such as ableism, disability, social vs. medical models of disability, and societal benefits of accessibility.
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Track B: Create Amazing Content
Captioning Multimedia - Is It As Complicated As It Sounds? While captioning might seem straightforward - it's as simple as typing out what you hear, right? And auto-captioning is available everywhere - providing good captioning takes a little something extra. In this workshop, you’ll learn about captioning types for prerecorded media, best practices for grammar and editing, captioning workflows, and some of the latest tools to quickly and correctly caption your videos, no matter what platform you want to load them into.
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2:00 PM – 2:10 PM
Break
2:10 PM – 3:00 PM
Workshop
Track A: Lead Our Agencies Toward Access
The Human Reason for Accessibility (Part 2) Presenters will build on Part 1, foundational concepts of accessibility, to explore with attendees how we can help remove environmental, institutional, and attitudinal barriers to an accessible workplace.
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Track B: Create Amazing Content
Section 508 PMs - What You Need To Know New to managing a 508 program? Not sure where to start? Feeling a bit overwhelmed? Remember, you don’t need to know everything on day one. In this session get inspired by hearing how Accessibility Programs, across agencies, use the Section 508 Playbook to learn, grow, and adapt it to their cultural and technical environment.
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Presenter:
Gary Morin, NIH
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3:00 PM – 3:10 PM
Break
3:10 PM – 4:00 PM
Workshop
Track A: Lead Our Agencies Toward Access
Creating Accessible PDF Forms Learn how to make your PDF forms Section 508 conformant using Adobe tools.
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Track B: Create Amazing Content
Section 508 PMs - Using What You Know Building on the previous session, Section508 PMs - What You Need to Know, panelists will discuss using best practices in the real world, baselining, and moving forward.
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Panelist:
Tim Creagan, USAB
Gary Morin, NIH
Yvette Gibson, Training & Outreach Director, General Services Administration
Stephen Harding, Director of Digital Strategies, General Services Administration

PROGRAM Day 2: Wednesday, October 12

Gary Morin, Section 508 Program Manager, National Institutes of Health
10:05 AM – 11:00 AM
General Session
Agency Co-host Greetings
Moderator:
Dennis Papula, Deputy Director, Office of the Chief Information Officer, National Institutes of Health
Panelist:
Jason Hitchcock, Director, Office of Information Technology Policy Review, National Institutes of Health
Antoinette Johnson, Section 508 Program Manager, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Kate Sweeney, Director, Section 508 Program, Health and Human Services
Mark Urban, Accessibility Program Manager, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
11:00 AM – 11:05 AM
Transition
11:05 AM – 11:40 AM
Keynote
Kimberly Knackstedt, Senior Fellow and Co-Director, Disability Economic Justice Collaborative, The Century Foundation
Moderator:
Andrew Nielson, Director, Government-wide IT Accessibility Program, General Services Administration
11:40 AM – 11:50 AM
Transition
11:50 AM – 12:30 PM
General Session
Using Technology to Enhance Intersectional Neurodiverse Accessibility at Work Neurodiversity/Neurodivergence has been defined the range of differences in individual brain function and behavioral traits, regarded as part of normal variation in the human population. Neurodiversity also describes the idea that people experience and interact with the world around them in many different ways; there is no one "right" way of thinking, learning, and behaving, and differences are not viewed as deficits ( Singer 2016, Mottron 2004, Harvard 2022). As more companies broaden their investment in DEIA programs, more leaders are adding neuodiversity/neurodivergence to their business vocabularies and programming (DICE, 2021). However, while a growing number of companies are still refining HR processes to hire and retain neurodivere talent; at present, however, there are still many barriers and more work needs to be done. This panel will briefly discuss what intersectional neurodiversity means, the business case for neurodiversity, how each panelist is expanding accessibility though technology for DEIA and for Neurodiverse people with the workplace, how success is measured, best practices and next steps to create holistic inclusive workplaces.
Moderator:
Rhonda Moore, Program Officer Global Mental Health, National Institutes of Health
Panelist:
Susan Daniels, Director of the Office of Autism Research Coordination (OARC) at the National Institute of Mental Health and the Executive Secretary of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC), National Institutes of Health
Paula Angela Escuadra, Co-Founder and Co-Chair, International Game Developers Association
Dr. Lawrence Fung, Director, Stanford Neurodiversity Project; Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University
Jim Hogan, Vice President, Accessibility in Technology, Google
12:30 PM – 1:00 PM
Lunch
1:00 PM – 1:45 PM
Breakout Session
Track A: Lead Our Agencies Toward Access
Workplace Mental Health - Why It's More Important Than Ever to Focus on the Mental Health of Your Employees. Struggling with human emotions is a universal experience, yet mental health is a topic that gets stigmatized every day in our society. Mental health awareness is on the rise, particularly as COVID-19 continues to drive an epidemic of stress and burnout. That's why it's more important than ever for companies to prioritize employee well-being and mental health. This presents unique challenges in the workplace, going beyond just providing mental health options to creating a workplace in which all employees truly feel supported by employers and connected to one another. This presentation will share one agency's efforts to establish a work culture that embraces mental health, talks about it, and supports employee mental health through the establishment of an Employee Resource Group accessible to all employees and contractors within the National Science Foundation.
Moderator:
Presenter:
Macey Cox, NSF
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Track B: Create Amazing Content
Striving for Universal Access: Image Descriptions Since the summer of 2020, more than 1,000 fully accessible textual descriptions of works of art in the National Gallery of Art's collection have gone live and cover 60% of traffic to museum's collection pages. Learn how we leveraged a large-scale, interdepartmental project to make this a reality, from documenting the process through published description guidelines, to focusing on all users through an inclusive design approach which supports the National Gallery's mission for universal access.
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1:45 PM – 2:00 PM
Break
2:00 PM – 2:45 PM
Breakout Session
Track A: Lead Our Agencies Toward Access
Beyond 508 Compliance: A Four-Point Hybrid Testing Approach For our new ONRR.gov site, we wanted to ensure the site is accessible from the start. We decided to use a four-point hybrid testing approach. The first step is running automated Lighthouse accessibility reports. We followed up with manual testing with NVDA screen reader. We then worked with a SME with visual disability to review the website. Finally, we iterated the needed fixes with our developer. We'll present learnings from this process.
Moderator:
Dennis Oden, MSPB
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Track B: Create Amazing Content
Mission Accessible Getting the Job Done Mission Accessible, inspired by Mission Impossible, consists of five daily missions delivered via email. Each mission, usually no more than 5 minutes, is focused on one of the following areas ':' Vision, Hearing, Mobility, Speech, and Cognitive. Those participating report out if they completed it and any other observations. It can help people walk in someone else's shoe while learning about features they may not have been aware of (e.g., dictation, and using short cut keys).
Moderator:
Tim Creagan, USAB
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2:45 PM – 3:00 PM
Break
3:00 PM – 3:45 PM
Breakout Session
Track A: Lead Our Agencies Toward Access
Phases of "Advancing Accessibility" in a Small Agency Sharing Phases of "Advancing Accessibility":
  • Awareness - People learn about the topic of accessibility
  • Acknowledgment - People accept that accessibility is important or how it impacts them and the way they work
  • Adaption - People start to change their behavior about accessibility
  • Adoption - People's changed behavior becomes habit when considering accessibility
  • Advocacy - People help and encourage others to adhere to and apply better behaviors regarding accessibility
Moderator:
Avis Ryan, GSA
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Track B: Create Amazing Content
The UniDescription Project: Audio Describing the World, One Brochure at a Time For years, the National Park Service and University of Hawaii have partnered to audio describe print brochures. The results: A website rich with resources, open source editing tools, hundreds of trained staff, and over 160 brochures available on an app. All results are informed by research, and collaborators who are blind or low vision. This presentation will provide background, demo the audio description tools you can use, and hear a collaborator's perspective.
Moderator:
Martha Wilkes, USDS/VA
Presenter:
Dr. Brett Oppegaard, UH Mānoa
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Andrew Nielson, Director, Government-wide IT Accessibility Program, General Services Administration

PROGRAM Day 3: Thursday, October 13

Dan Pomeroy, Deputy Associate Administrator, Office of Technology Policy, General Services Administration
Katy Kale, Deputy Administrator, General Services Administration
10:25 AM – 10:35 AM
General Session
Government-wide IT Accessibility Program Update
Andrew Nielson, Director, Government-wide IT Accessibility Program, General Services Administration
10:35 AM – 10:50 AM
Break
Krystal Brumfield, Associate Administrator, Office of Government-wide Policy, General Services Administration
11:05 AM – 11:40 AM
Keynote
Day Al-Mohamed, Director, Disability Policy, White House, Domestic Policy Council
Moderator:
Andrea M. O’Neal, Senior Advisor to the Administrator for Equity, General Services Administration
11:40 AM – 11:50 AM
Break
11:50 AM – 12:35 PM
General Session
Accessibility Maturity Models The Intelligence Community (IC) Information Technology (IT) Accessibility Program Maturity Model, which we developed with the IC IT Accessibility Program Community of Interest (COI). This model was designed to help the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), the IC Chief Information Officer, and IC Elements assess effectiveness of their IT accessibility programs, identify gaps, and help develop the necessary capabilities to improve future performance.
Moderator:
Michael Horton, Senior ICT Accessibility Specialist, General Services Administration
Presenter:
Nancy E. Casper, Information Technology Specialist, Federal Bureau of Investigation
Shannon L. Paschel, Chief, Information Technology Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility, Defense Intelligence Agency
Dr. Rosemary Speers, Team Lead, Office of the Director of National Intelligence
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12:35 PM – 1:00 PM
Lunch
1:00 PM – 1:45 PM
Breakout Session
Track A: Lead Our Agencies Toward Access
WCAG 3 - Current Status and Ways to Get Involved The Accessibility Guidelines Working Group is working on WCAG 3, the next generation of digital accessibility standards. This presentation will:
  1. Review the goals for WCAG 3
  2. Discuss the current status of the work
  3. Provide an opportunity for immediate feedback
  4. Review ways to keep up to date and provide ongoing feedback.
Moderator:
Bruce Bailey, USAB
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Track B: Section 508 Wildcard
Best Practices for Achieving Digital Accessibility Federal acquisition processes for procuring Information and Communication Technology (ICT) provide key opportunities to ensure accessible technology is purchased. Best Practices are shared on how Federal Agencies procure accessible ICT as required by Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. The audience is guided through key acquisition lifecycle stages and shows how and when to incorporate digital accessibility requirements. Accessibility Conformance Report creation and evaluation is also reviFederal acquisition processes for procuring Information and Communication Technology (ICT) provide key opportunities to ensure accessible technology is purchased. Best Practices are shared on how Federal Agencies procure accessible ICT as required by Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. The audience is guided through key acquisition lifecycle stages and shows how and when to incorporate digital accessibility requirements. Accessibility Conformance Report creation and evaluation is also reviewed.
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Presenter:
Betsy Sirk, NASA
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1:45 PM – 2:00 PM
Break
2:00 PM – 2:45 PM
Breakout Session
Track A: Lead Our Agencies Toward Access
A Different Perspective for Looking at Accessibility In 2022 the 1-in-4 Americans with disabilities continue to experience inequities due to accessibility barriers to electronic information technology (EIT). Access to EIT is a civil right. Even when provided with a reasonable accommodation PWD must identify their own work-a-rounds to reduce barriers. Join us to experience the world from an alternative point of view as panelist share tips and tricks they use daily to increase their productivity and opportunities for inclusion in the workplace.
Moderator:
Martha Wilkes, USDS/VA
Presenter:
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Track B: Section 508 Wildcard
Demystifying Section 508: Creating and Evaluating Accessibility Conformance Reports The US Federal Government buys more Information and Communication Technology (ICT) than it builds. To ensure the most accessible ICT is purchased, the Government relies on Industry to provide Accessibility Conformance Reports (ACRs). This presentation shows how ACR creation is a win-win situation for Industry and Government. NASA shares its guide to help industry develop ACRs and promote an understanding of Section 508 by both Industry and Government. Best practices in ACR evaluation are shared.
Moderator:
Panelist:
Betsy Sirk, NASA
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2:45 PM – 3:00 PM
Break
3:00 PM – 3:45 PM
General Session
Unlocking The Power Of Accessibility - Recognizing & Embracing Your Superpower
Moderator:
Yvette Gibson, Training & Outreach Director, General Services Administration
Panelist:
Dr. Anjali Forber-Pratt, Director, National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research
Dr. Sachin Pavithran, Executive Director, United States Access Board
Taryn M. Williams, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Disability Employment Policy, Department of Labor
Yvette Gibson, Training & Outreach Director, General Services Administration
Stephen Harding, Director of Digital Strategies, General Services Administration
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Thank you

To all keynote speakers; breakout session moderators and panelists; attendees; IAAF volunteers, exhibitors and volunteers.

Reviewed/Updated: October 13, 2022

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